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Core modules and Options at Level 10

PHI9PA - The Distribution of Property: Defending Inequalities

 

Is it morally acceptable that some people can own much more than others?  Are any inequalities in ownership ever morally justified?  The module focuses on five ways of trying to justify inequalities in property ownership: by appeal to the importance of

1. freedom
2. desert
3. respect for natural rights
4. efficiency, or
5. on the basis of Rawls’s approach. 

The module examines how the different approaches justify differing forms of capitalism (e.g. ‘laissez-faire’ free market capitalism; rights-based libertarianism; ‘welfare capitalism’), involving different levels of inequality.  We shall ask whether, if inequalities are defensible, there is also moral justification for a welfare state ‘safety net’.

Outcomes

The module will introduce students to key arguments in defence of economic inequality.  In exploring these arguments, students will gain an understanding of central liberal and libertarian philosophical theories of distributive justice.  The module also aims to improve students’ critical reading, analysis and communication through writing and group discussion. (Refer to the Student Handbook for more details.)

 

Reading Material

Core Texts
Tom Campbell	Justice, second edition	(Macmillan 2001)  (a readable introduction to the topic)
Alan Ryan (ed.),	Justice	(OUP 1993) (a selection of writings on justice from Plato to contemporary theorists)

 

We shall also use material from the following books (which are in the RBR):
John Rawls	A Theory of Justice	(OUP 1971)
Robert Nozick	Anarchy, State and Utopia	(Blackwell 1974)

Availability:	Honours (semester 5 or7), 3 Year Degree; General Degree.
Prerequisite:	Any level 9 Philosophy module
Assessment:	Coursework: 50 per cent (two essays); examination 50 per cent (three hours, three questions).
Teaching Pattern:	Two one-hour lectures and one one-hour seminar each week.
Regulations:	For the purposes of the University's attendance regulation 14, both lectures and seminars are prescribed classes . The rationale for prescribing these classes may be found in the Philosophy Student Handbook, section F. This section also contains regulations relating to the submission of essays, and other matters.

Please contact Rowan Cruft if you would like to know more about this module.